SCI-TEST EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS LATEST
UPDATE
Glaciers
solid ice formations that move extremely slowly along the land surface.
How are glaciers formed?
form when snow remains in the same area, year-round and changes into ice.
Each year, new layers of snow fall and compress the previous layers.
This compression forces the snow to re-crystallize, forming grains similar in size and
shape to grains of sugar.
what are the two main types of glaciers?
Continental Glaciers and Valley Glaciers
V Shaped Glaciers
V Shaped Valleys are formed from erosion of materials coming down the mountain
U Shaped Valleys
Formed as glaciers carry rocks and boulders through pre-existing valleys, carving out
the u-shape in some areas.
Valley Glaciers examples
Athabaska Glacier, Jasper National Park
what is the origin of our water supply?
bow glacier
Glacial Erosion
Glaciers erode the underlying rock by abrasion and plucking. Glacial meltwater seeps
into cracks of the underlying rock, the water freezes and pushes pieces of rock outward.
The rock is then plucked out and carried away by the flowing ice of the moving glacier.
With the weight of the ice over them, these rocks can scratch deeply into the underlying
bedrock making long, parallel grooves in the bedrock, called glacial striations.
Glacial striations
Scratches and grooves on bedrock caused by glacial abrasion
Cirque
A bowl-shaped cirque in Glacier National Park was carved by glaciers.
Tarn
A high altitude lake, called a tarn, forms from meltwater trapped in the cirque.
Moraine
Linear rock deposits are called moraines.
As the glaciers moves, ridges of debris are left.
Horn
Several cirques from glaciers flowing in different directions from a mountain peak, leave
behind a sharp sided horn, like the Matterhorn in Switzerland
Arete
When glaciers move down opposite sides of a mountain, a sharp edged ridge, called an
arête, forms between them.
glacial erratic
A large boulder dropped by a glacier is a glacial erratic.
Glacial Till
, When glaciers melt(recede) they drop off the material (rocks and soil) they have been
pushing. This material that isdropped from the base of the glacier is called glacial till.
Kettle
a shallow filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. This
happens when large block of ice fall from the front end of a glacier and get pushed
down from the glacier moving forward.
Esker
An esker is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel.
Eskers are often several kilometres long and, because of their peculiar uniform shape,
are somewhat like railway embankments.
Drumlin
A drumlin is an asymmetrical hill made of sediments that points in the direction the ice
moved. Usually drumlins are found in groups called drumlin fields.
Watershed
Area of land where gravity makes all the water flow downhill to the lowest point where
rivers form and head for the nearest ocean.
Continental Divide
Continental divides are along the highest elevations that determine which direction
water flows.
Origin/Source
The starting point of the river (glacier).
Glacier melting in the mountains.
Elevation vs. flow rate
Elevation: Height above sea level
Flow rate: Total volume of water that flows past a fixed point in a river or stream over
time. The higher the elevation, the faster the flow rate and the more sediment it carries.
Lower elevation is a slower flow rate.
What's the relationship between elevation and flow rate? Greater differences in
elevation produce faster flow rates.
Sediment load vs. flow rate
Sediment Load: The amount of water-borne materials (soil, rocks, organic matter) that
the river carries.
What's the relationship between sediment load and flow rate? Rivers with increased
flow rate carry higher sediment load.
Deposition
The depositing or laying down of sediments carried by the river. Once a river stops
flowing, it can't carry any sediments
Erosion
Wearing away and transportation of rock and sediment.
Flood Plain
The flat land on either side of the river that becomes flooded when the river overflows
on the banks
Meandering
When the ground becomes level, the river flows slower. As a result the river curves
(meandering). Older rivers have more meanders (curves)
UPDATE
Glaciers
solid ice formations that move extremely slowly along the land surface.
How are glaciers formed?
form when snow remains in the same area, year-round and changes into ice.
Each year, new layers of snow fall and compress the previous layers.
This compression forces the snow to re-crystallize, forming grains similar in size and
shape to grains of sugar.
what are the two main types of glaciers?
Continental Glaciers and Valley Glaciers
V Shaped Glaciers
V Shaped Valleys are formed from erosion of materials coming down the mountain
U Shaped Valleys
Formed as glaciers carry rocks and boulders through pre-existing valleys, carving out
the u-shape in some areas.
Valley Glaciers examples
Athabaska Glacier, Jasper National Park
what is the origin of our water supply?
bow glacier
Glacial Erosion
Glaciers erode the underlying rock by abrasion and plucking. Glacial meltwater seeps
into cracks of the underlying rock, the water freezes and pushes pieces of rock outward.
The rock is then plucked out and carried away by the flowing ice of the moving glacier.
With the weight of the ice over them, these rocks can scratch deeply into the underlying
bedrock making long, parallel grooves in the bedrock, called glacial striations.
Glacial striations
Scratches and grooves on bedrock caused by glacial abrasion
Cirque
A bowl-shaped cirque in Glacier National Park was carved by glaciers.
Tarn
A high altitude lake, called a tarn, forms from meltwater trapped in the cirque.
Moraine
Linear rock deposits are called moraines.
As the glaciers moves, ridges of debris are left.
Horn
Several cirques from glaciers flowing in different directions from a mountain peak, leave
behind a sharp sided horn, like the Matterhorn in Switzerland
Arete
When glaciers move down opposite sides of a mountain, a sharp edged ridge, called an
arête, forms between them.
glacial erratic
A large boulder dropped by a glacier is a glacial erratic.
Glacial Till
, When glaciers melt(recede) they drop off the material (rocks and soil) they have been
pushing. This material that isdropped from the base of the glacier is called glacial till.
Kettle
a shallow filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. This
happens when large block of ice fall from the front end of a glacier and get pushed
down from the glacier moving forward.
Esker
An esker is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel.
Eskers are often several kilometres long and, because of their peculiar uniform shape,
are somewhat like railway embankments.
Drumlin
A drumlin is an asymmetrical hill made of sediments that points in the direction the ice
moved. Usually drumlins are found in groups called drumlin fields.
Watershed
Area of land where gravity makes all the water flow downhill to the lowest point where
rivers form and head for the nearest ocean.
Continental Divide
Continental divides are along the highest elevations that determine which direction
water flows.
Origin/Source
The starting point of the river (glacier).
Glacier melting in the mountains.
Elevation vs. flow rate
Elevation: Height above sea level
Flow rate: Total volume of water that flows past a fixed point in a river or stream over
time. The higher the elevation, the faster the flow rate and the more sediment it carries.
Lower elevation is a slower flow rate.
What's the relationship between elevation and flow rate? Greater differences in
elevation produce faster flow rates.
Sediment load vs. flow rate
Sediment Load: The amount of water-borne materials (soil, rocks, organic matter) that
the river carries.
What's the relationship between sediment load and flow rate? Rivers with increased
flow rate carry higher sediment load.
Deposition
The depositing or laying down of sediments carried by the river. Once a river stops
flowing, it can't carry any sediments
Erosion
Wearing away and transportation of rock and sediment.
Flood Plain
The flat land on either side of the river that becomes flooded when the river overflows
on the banks
Meandering
When the ground becomes level, the river flows slower. As a result the river curves
(meandering). Older rivers have more meanders (curves)
